


Nothing is What you Believed

by Drawingdragons24_7



Series: Legends Don't Die and Other Related Fics [4]
Category: Rockman X | Mega Man X, Rockman | Mega Man - All Media Types, Rockman | Mega Man Classic
Genre: Angst, Blues is King of all Robot Masters, Blues is a Badass, Borrowed ideas from Redemption by HarunaRei on fanfiction.net, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Dr. Light is an awful human being, He shouldn't be punished like this, Rock needs a hug, This is way darker than I normally write, X is a cinnamon roll
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2020-05-19
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:13:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 18,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24199531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drawingdragons24_7/pseuds/Drawingdragons24_7
Summary: When X wakes up after dying, he's confused. When he discovers Doctor Light is still alive, he's suspicious. Humans don't live for hundreds of years after all. And then he discovers that his life is a lie and nothing is as he believed. Zero is evil. The maverick and elf wars never occurred. None of his friends ever existed. . . . And it's only been three months since he was first activated.
Series: Legends Don't Die and Other Related Fics [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1746502
Comments: 9
Kudos: 48





	1. Prologue

Rock stared in fear down at the innocent glowing blue screen connected to the pod. He didn’t want to know what horrible story the pod was filling its victim’s head with next. But he had to know. He had to know what was happening to his little brother.

Because he needed to know how much of a traumatized mess his brother was going to be in, if he woke up, _when_ he woke up. He couldn’t allow himself to get so pessimistic. Even though it seemed like there really was no hope for his little brother. No hope that Doctor Light would ever bring his little brother out of the hell he was in.

The pod had been filling his brother’s head with lies for several months now and to make matters worse, those months were really _years_ to his brother considering how fast the pod enhanced his processing speed. _Hundreds_ of years.

Last he’d checked, his little brother’s world had finally discovered a cure to the nasty virus that plagued that world for over a century. A virus that turned robots dark, evil.

That was over three weeks ago. Doctor Light had been making it difficult for Rock to come down here to discover what had happened next. Meaning it had been nearly fifty years since then.

And considering the pod’s track record, his little brother’s life had likely gone to hell.

A single tear crawled down Rock’s cheek as he stared down at the blue screen, hand hovering over the device.

All it would take is a single touch and he would know.

But did he want to?

He grimaced and breathed in deeply, bracing himself. He had to.

Because somebody had to know how to fix his little brother when he woke up.

And it sure as hell wasn’t going to be the doctor.

His hand pressed onto the screen which turned yellow upon contact and his head was filled with years of memories. His little _brother’s_ memories.

War. It was _always_ war. And pain and suffering. But then it became almost happy, a rare occurrence for the pod. Oh look, his brother built a city. A safe haven for reploids and humans alike. He built four reploids. The guardians. His _children_. Things were finally looking up. Only to crash back down violently. Couldn’t seal the dark elf. His brother lost his body? Weird. But he was still alive as a ghost? Weirder. Then came the copy. The city destabilized. His brother’s children are twisted. Shortages. Shortages. Shortages. A group of reploids and humans escaped with X’s guidance. Formed the rebellion. Zero woke up. But Zero doesn’t remember? Why does something good always have something bad to go with it? More war. Fighting. But X is just watching this time? Phantom is dead. Zero killed him. . . . and the visions stopped. Rock had caught up to X’s current time line.

With a jerk, Rock pulled away from the pod with a gasp, sobbing. He laid on the ground for several moments before pulling himself to his feet and calling forth his armor. He summoned a buster and aimed it towards the pod’s control panel.

All it would take is one shot and his brother would be free.

_Error: Unable to disobey commands_. His buster wouldn’t engage. He couldn’t fire.

That’s right. The doctor specifically ordered him to _never_ in any way, shape, or form, cause his brother’s simulations to stop or even just _pause_ without his _direct_ command.

Rock’s programming would not allow him to disobey.

He fell to the ground once more, sobbing, and allowed his armor to dissipate.

His brother was suffering and there was _nothing_ he could do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The word document I have for this fic is a hot mess. Chapters aren't in order. I've rewritten several chapters without identifying which one is the correct chapter. All in all, it took me far too long to find the prologue for this fic. 
> 
> I borrowed ideas (mainly Blues being ruler of all robot masters and a general badass from HarunaRei's Redemption fic on fanfiction.net). I've already talked to them about doing so.


	2. The Escape

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> X wakes up, discovers his life is a lie, gets mad, and leaves.

When X’s systems came online he was confused. Confused because he _distinctly_ remembered dying and last time he checked, he _didn’t have a body_. So why was he getting status reports like he had one? Something was wrong, and he couldn’t shake the feeling of dread he felt. He told his systems to go slow, carefully, check for bugs, check for _anything_ out of the ordinary.

His systems didn’t find any bugs, however, they _did_ tell him that he was plugged into a device that could force him offline.

Now _that_ didn’t set off any warning bells. Within seconds, he had rerouted his connection to the device in such a way that it didn’t register that he was disengaged from it but at the same time, it prevented the device from doing its intended purpose.

Nanites were wonderful.

There was also a connection to his main memory, one that recorded _everything_ he saw and thought. The feeling of dread grew. That connection was blocked in a similar way as the device. However, he routed a repeating stream of thoughts to it, much like a looped camera recording, filled with mostly just confusion, in an attempt to keep _whoever the hell was watching him so tightly off his damn back._

Because his systems were telling him that something was _really_ wrong and his security was compromised.

There was another connection to his memory, one that _sent_ files rather than viewed them. That one, of course, was blocked as well, despite already being inactive.

Otherwise, the other connections seemed relatively harmless, a connection for power, a connection for supplies. He blocked them anyways, because quite frankly, he didn’t trust them.

He waited until his systems were fully functional and his buster was primed and ready to switch out with his arm in a moment’s notice before triggering the pod to open. He was taking no chances. He had a _really_ bad feeling about this.

“X?” a cautious and rather old voice called out. X’s eyes snapped open and narrowed in confusion and focus. He recognized that voice, but it was so buried in memory files he wasn’t sure who.

“X? It’s me, Dr.Light.”

The voices matched. Sort of. The voice he was currently hearing sounded a little bit younger. But how?  
X sat up, eyes scanning the room completely before settling on the two other occupants inside of it. One, a tall yellow and black robot with an electric sort of theme. He prepped his systems to handle high voltage attacks. The other, looked much like the Dr.Light he vaguely remembered. But less old. How?

“X? Do you remember me?”

“Dr.Light?” he asked, cautious, wary, but still hopeful. “But how?”

Dr.Light smiled at him gently. “I never truly died. The Light you remember is nothing more than an altered memory file. I had to make myself appear much older than I was in order for the plan to work.”

Altered memory file? _What? Why?_ Was that the reason for the connection that _sent_ files to his memories. And if so, _how_ was Light still alive? He was ecstatic to learn that his father was alive even after all these years, the wars. But it simply wasn’t possible. There was no way. _How_? Years of combat experience kicked in, experiences of betrayal whispered in the back of his mind, forcing X into a higher state of caution than when he woke up. His face blanked. His second arm primed itself for battle. The thrusters on his feet charged quietly, discreetly, ready to bolt at a moment’s notice.

Something was _really_ wrong. His systems couldn’t stop screaming that fact at him. Light’s words echoed in his head. Never truly died. _Never_ _truly died_. It was impossible. Unless Light had made himself a reploid much like Weil. _That_ was possible. But his scanners were telling him that the Light in front of him was _human_.

A clone?

The plan, his mind echoed back. What plan? _Why_?

“What plan? And how are you still alive? It’s been _centuries_.” X finally asked, cautious, tense. Caution was overwhelming his joy for finally seeing a familiar and welcoming face after all these years.

“The pod X,” Light sighed. “It was designed to test you, to make sure that you weren’t going to end up like Zero.” X almost started. Zero? But Zero wasn’t evil. Light paused before trying to cut straight to the point. There was no point in trying to hide the information, X was tense and alert, ready to fight and ready to bolt. He was disappointed, truly, that X was so cautious rather than being naïve and trusting like his predecessor. It only proved that X was not ready. Perhaps he should have tried to alter how the pod was teaching him things to sway the android into loyalty rather than allowing it to continue as it had.

“Everything you remember is a lie,” Light said bluntly. “A test produced by the pod you were sealed in. The maverick wars never occurred. Neither did the Elf wars. Zero is evil. Everybody else you remember never existed. It was all a part of the test.”

X’s mind halted in its tracks. _What_?

“What?” X said weakly. Dr.Light sighed.

“I had to be sure that you weren’t going to be evil. You are a robot programmed without the three laws. _Anything_ could happen if I didn’t make sure. I couldn’t risk you going evil like Wily’s android did.”

X’s mind sped up, going miles a second.

“ _What?!_ ” he repeated, much louder. A lie? No that couldn’t. . . . Could it? Something told him such a fact was correct. Pieces fell into place quickly, far too quickly. It would certainly explain how he was still alive. But there weren’t many pieces and not everything was adding up.

“Nothing you remember is real, X,” Doctor Light repeated again. _Nothing_? X’s mind repeated. No Zero, no Alia, no Signas, no Axl, no Sigma, no virus, no _wars_.

His mind halted as realization and suspicion dawned. The wars. There was really no reason for him to believe Doctor Light so quickly but the back of his mind whispered that it was true. But was that really the back of his mind or yet another lie? He didn’t know what to believe anymore. He didn’t _who_ to believe any more.

_The wars_. His mind repeated and he refocused on another train of thought. _Wars_ his mind repeated. Plural. _Multiple sets_. Both the maverick wars _and_ the elf wars.

If this truly was a lie and a set up made by the pod, a test to prove his “goodness”, wasn’t one war enough? Hadn’t he proved himself after one? What was the point of the other wars? The hell he had to go through. Bitterness rose in his systems, but he forced it down. There was no need for that kind of doubt and anger right now. Questions first. He needed answers.

“The wars,” he eventually forced out through his mess of confused and chaotic thoughts. Light hummed.

“They never happened, X,” Doctor Light repeated. X’s mind scrambled and he forced himself to think clearly enough to speak again.

“Why plural?” X responded. Light sighed and struggled to think. There was no gentle way of saying the answer. He could lie, but he was unsure just how many of the skills X gained in the pod carried over and he couldn’t risk X recognizing the lie for what it was. He would lose the android faster than he could say “it was Wily’s fault”.

“I was unsure. The first war had ended rather chaotically and I wasn’t sure if you were going to snap and go off the deep end after what you’d experienced. I let the pod continue in an attempt to truly determine if your morals were as they should be.” The doctor, sensing where the conversation might lead, stepped over to the computer plugged into the pod and hovered a hand over its keyboard.

What? Was X _hearing_ things right? There were so many things wrong with what Light had just said that he couldn’t even _begin_ to fathom just everything the doctor was implying at the moment.

“So you put me through another one,” X surmised. He raised a shaking hand to his forehead.

“Just to make sure,” Light repeated. _Just to make sure_.

“What about the third?”

“You continued to show insecurities,” Light explained.

“The fourth?”

“Again. Insecurities.” X took in a shuddering breath. Light frowned. This was not going a smoothly as he had hoped. If this kept up, he would be forced to shut down the android or if things went wrong, order Elecman to detain him and shut him down.

“And I suppose it was the same case with the fifth war?” X asked.

“Yes.”

“And the sixth? And the seventh?”

“Yes, X.”

“The _eighth_?”

“I kept the pod going because you kept showing insecurities. So yes,” Light answered. X’s breathing was borderline panicked now. Doctor Light made a signal with his hand and the robot master beside him tensed, waiting for his signaling command.

“ _Insecurities_?” X hissed. Light tensed.

“X,” he warned.

“ _Insecurities?!_ ” X repeated louder. X’s hand lowered and his green eyes focused on the doctor. “ _What the hell did you **expect**?!_” he hissed. “You designed me to be human, doctor! It’s _war!_ ”

“Elecman,” Light ordered. The robot master nodded and began approaching X, who’s eyes regarded him with scrutiny.

“And what are you going to do doctor?” X hissed. “I’m pretty sure another _goddamn war isn’t going to fix my fucking insecurities!_ ” He watched Elecman’s movements like he would with any dangerous enemy. Doctor Light typed a few things into the keyboard and frowned when nothing happened and errors appeared on the screen. X had already blocked his connection with the pod. Said android practically growled as his systems told him Light had attempted to use the device to shut him down.

“I was afraid of this. I’m going to have to resort to a clean slate. Elecman, continue,” Doctor Light stated.

X’s mind paused in shock as Light’s words registered in his mind. Clean slate. Light was going to _wipe his memory_. Perhaps his personality too.

_Hell_ _no_.

_/X/_ Something, a male’s voice, cried out in his mind. It didn’t come from his own. He instantly went on high alert and threw up every mental shield he had.

_/Relax. It’s Elecman. I don’t want to hurt you, but I can’t disobey the doctor’s orders. Rock said your systems had upgraded themselves just as they had in the pod, so you should have an ice attack more powerful than Iceman’s. Hit me with it. I’ll be okay. I will lunge at you in a second, don’t fight back any more than what I said just run. Go up the stairs on the right. Take a left down the hallway. Turn right at the opening. The door to the outside is just across the living room. Fire at the red switch as your leaving the door. It will cause the house to go into lockdown. That’ll slow down Light and the rest of the robot masters enough that you can get away. There’s a tracker on the inside of your helmet. Dispose of it somewhere. Run. Get as far away from here as you can. No one deserves a fate like the one Light has planned for you./_

X decided to trust his instincts again because they hadn’t led him wrong yet and trust Elecman. He searched his systems for Shotput Ice and engaged it, deciding to ponder how it got there later. Elecman lunged. X had never engaged his buster so quickly and fired in his life. Elecman hadn’t even frozen completely before X was climbing the stairs, Light shouting after him. He passed a brown-haired boy in the hallway but ultimately ignored him. Turn right at the opening. Across the living room. Open the door, fire at the switch. Close the door behind. Ignore the alarms blaring and get _the hell out of there_.

He was miles away before the other robot masters were notified of his escape.

He’d deposited the tracker in the sewer of a nearby city before taking off again hiding behind an alley and dispelling his armor. He couldn’t blaze across the land like he’d been doing. The media would track him. He’d be too noticeable. He walked to a nearby bus line that went out of the city, careful to hide his face from all cameras.

Years of breaking into high-security maverick fortresses had to of taught him something, even if they were staged. You couldn't go in guns blazing every single time. Sometimes you had to be more _discreet._

The bus was leaving the city by the time the robot masters found the deposited tracker and began a city-wide search for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel sort of evil for doing this to X. But also, it's a great way to crossover the classic and X ( also sort of the Zero series but not really) without doing any cliche time travel. Also, also, I genuinely love this idea, even if its a little bit depressing to think about. I don't have the plot for this fully worked out and I would LOVE a beta reader. I haven't actually played the classic or zero series (really only played some of the X series too) I have the classic series and the X series entirely but they're kind of difficult for me to play right now. I have watched playthroughs though. I just don't have a whole lot of time anymore and I'm kind of looking for somebody who knows more?


	3. Blues

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rock is hysterical, Blues is concerned, and X has gone rogue. What better way to continue the story than to have a moody android and grumpy robot master meet?

Blues frowned as the air beside him hummed with the familiar sound of a teleporter springing to action and dumping its payload. He summoned his buster, charging it, ready to chase off whoever dared to disturb him. He wasn’t expecting anybody and quite frankly he could count on one hand the number of people he’d informed of his current hideout.

He then paused as a brilliant flash appeared right in the center of the humming and deactivated his buster. A familiar signal had flooded his sensors, panicked, upset, and hysterical. He’d recognize that signal anywhere.

It was Rock. And something had deeply upset the robot master if he was _teleporting_ to Blues in such hysterics.

Blues was willing to bet an E-can that it was Dr.Light’s fault.

* * *

Blues knew that the most recent project of Dr.Light’s had been causing Rock much grief for some time but he wasn’t expecting _this._ Dr.Light had _command lined_ Rock, forcing him to stay at the house until Dr.Light’s newest robot had woken up. (No wonder he hadn’t heard from the younger bot in months). And the command had damn near torn the little robot apart.

Rock, sweet little Rock, was programmed to be caring, and as a lab assistant, doctor-like and constantly worrying about the welfare of other beings. It didn’t matter what, it could be a human, mechanaloid, or robot master; if it was sick or injured, either mentally or physically, Rock wanted to help it, to heal it. Dr.Light had been forcing Rock to _not_ heal his hurt _younger brother_ for _months_ , and Rock _couldn’t even seek out Blues to let loose that frustration_. Dr.Light was pushing the robotic child to a breaking point. Any longer and Rock would have been at risk of going _against_ his programming, which could label the young robot as being _unstable_ and _unfit_ to continue functioning as an accepted member of society much like Blues was.

There were many reasons Blues did not like his creator. This being one of them that drove his dislike closer to _hate._

And there was nothing to be done now. Rock’s younger brother, the one he had gushed about so often as being so _cute_ , was gone, hurt, confused, and damaged in a way that Blues, as a robot master, would never truly be able to understand, most likely forever distancing himself from anything related to Dr.Light.

And here Rock was, _begging_ him to go and find a way to _fix_ it. Not to bring the android back to Dr.Light. No, Rock had very deliberately said that he didn’t want X anywhere _near_ Dr.Light. Rock just wanted Blues to look after him.

Blues frowned at this. He barely had enough supplies to keep _himself_ running, much less another robot. Rock, however, insisted that X was much more efficient than he looked and that taking care of the android physically wouldn’t be too difficult.

But it was the _mental_ part that was the problem. Blues was a _robot master_. He wasn’t quite capable of feeling things as X would be able to. He didn’t think he would do a very good job of fixing X’s broken heart.

He had to try though because Rock was the only robot in the world he would do just about anything for and the smaller bot was looking up at him with wide, tear-filled eyes, saying that he would go and look for the android himself, but he was scared that Dr.Light would _command line_ him into telling the scientist where X was.

And Rock couldn’t allow that. _Blues_ couldn’t allow that.

Damn. There wasn’t much hesitation left in him.

It looked like he had an android to find.

* * *

He finally found him, several months later, after exploiting every resource he knew of on _another continent_. Which was a shock, truly, because X didn’t have an internal teleporter that he knew of and it would be rather difficult to gather up all the required passports and licenses and _money_ to get X a ride there legally.

Which meant that the android had probably broken the law. Blues didn’t mind. He did stuff like that all the time. And after hearing all the bullshit the android had gone through with Dr.Light, he quite frankly didn’t blame him for wanting to get as far away as he could.

He waited until the android was alone, on a rooftop staring at the stars wistfully before he approached. He first stayed silent, some distance away, carefully contemplating his first words and actions. He didn’t want to scare the android away. That would make Rock upset. Which would make Blues upset because the elder robot master was supposed to _take care_ of the younger one. Which meant that he would have to appear as nonthreatening as possible.

He willed his armor away, letting the stiff, wrinkled, and rarely used clothes to cover his body. Blues frowned and ran a hand through his hair. He felt exposed without his armor on, vulnerable. But this was for Rock, he reminded himself.

He approached quietly, but not quiet enough to be completely unheard. He made sure to slightly scuff the hard concrete roof as he walked, alerting the android to his presence.

“You know,” he started and settled down next to the android, “the stars are easier to see in places where it's less polluted. Like Canada for example.”

The android spared him a glance, grief-ridden green eyes studying his wrinkled clothes and otherwise casual appearance.

“It’s night time,” was all the android said in response. Blues raised a hidden eyebrow.

“So?”

“You’re wearing sunglasses.” Blues smirked. He appreciated that kind of awareness and logic processing. 

“My eyes don’t adjust well to the light,” Blues responded truthfully. “Perks of being a prototype.”

The android cursed and lifted an arm, a blue halo surrounding it briefly before the human-like appendage was replaced with a buster that pointed in Blues’ direction, far too close to his head for comfort.

“You here to take me back?”

“No,” Blues answered as he tried to calm his screaming systems, the third law telling him that it _wasn’t safe_.

“You working with Wily?”

“Not anymore. I work solo.”

“What?” X asked confused and still wary. “It was my understanding that you all _served_ your human _masters_.” He spat out the last word very venomously. Blues frowned. That wasn’t _at all_ how robot masters worked. God, what information had Dr.Light been _giving_ him?

“That is a _very_ inaccurate statement and one that would be considered insulting to many of us. Still, it does have his merits. I, however, never lied to you. I do not serve any human. I am solo. But if you need to know, I find Wily to be more comforting than Light. At least Wily doesn’t coat his manipulating with soft words and broken promises.”

X, still wary, lowered his buster but did not deactivate it.

“So why are you here? And _who_ are you?”

“Rock. And the name’s Blues.”

“You’re here for a _rock?_ ”

Blues swore he was going to tear a new one into Dr.Light for filling X’s head with such inaccurate or just plain _missing_ information.

“Not what, _who_. Rock is your direct predecessor. The original Megaman.” Blues had been told that X had been a Megaman in the pod’s lies. “He was worried about you and asked me to come find you. I’m not here to take you back. I don’t trust Light either.”

“Megaman er, Rock, knows about this? About me?”

“Of course he does, he helped _build_ you. He’d begged Dr.Light to take you out of the pod not soon after you’d been put in it, only a year or so in for you. He was damn near hysterical when Dr.Light refused and your situation just got worse.”

“Why didn’t he pull the plug then?” X asked, growing in bitterness.

“Dr.Light had command lined him. I do believe he was also told not to see you until you had been . . . _handled_ and calmed after you woke up, which is why you have not met him yet.”

“Oh,” all anger towards his direct predecessor had fled at those words. “So you’re just here to check up on me and tell Rock I’m okay?’

“You’re not okay,” Blues replied bluntly. X flinched.

“I’ve just discovered my entire life is a lie,” he responded bitterly.

“And it has been several months since that discovery,” Blues replied. X sent him a glare and he raised his arms in surrender. “I’m not insulting you. I understand probably better than any other robot master you’re ever going to meet. Light wiped my memories a while back after I’d become too unruly and I’ve never trusted the man since. I don’t remember still, but when I figured it out, I was understandably pissed.” X’s eyes widened in understanding and something that looked remarkably like relief which was quickly followed up by guilt and a slight wince. “Look, I’m not saying that your moping is unjustified and I’d never expect you to forgive Dr.Light. _I_ haven’t and it’s been over fifteen years now. You just need to find something to live for. You can’t let Light control your life like this.”

“I don’t,” X paused, “I don’t know what to live for. All I’ve ever known was war and everything’s so . . . _peaceful_ here.”

“I don’t expect you to figure that out _now_. It might take you a while. A week or two, a few months, a year. Really it just all chalks up to your determination.”

X frowned in thought, staring down at his hand and buster. With a small sigh, X allowed the buster to dissipate and revert to his human-like limb. Blues almost sighed in relief as his systems finally stopped screaming at him. X then looked at him uncertainly.

“What,” he paused, “what do you live for then?”

“The one thing I was never supposed to,” Blues answered with a smirk, “myself.” X blinked at him confused.

“While I was under Light’s command, I didn’t really have much of a choice in what I did with my life. It was always one chore or command after another. When I left and broke free from that command, I lived my life fully expecting that with my previously faulty core being the way it was, I would not wake up to see the next day. So I lived my life to the fullest. I saw the world and for a while forgot about Light.”

X looked at him in concern. “Your core is faulty?”

“Not anymore. Wily fixed it,” he grimaced. “for the most part.”

X nodded and turned to the stars once more. “I don’t even know where to start,” he stated weakly after a while of silence.

“Rock asked me to keep an eye on you,” Blues started. “So, you can start with me. He told me your world was plagued by century-long wars. I don’t think you’ve ever had the chance to see all the world’s greatest sights. I can show you around.”

X nodded. “I think I’d like that. Thank you.”

“No problem. Just don’t expect much. I’m as low income as it gets. We’ll be breaking the law to even just see most of the places I have in mind and quite frankly, I’m low on parts and supplies. Rock’s able to sneak me out some every once in a while, but Dr.Light’s been rather difficult lately and he hasn’t had the chance. If absolutely necessary, I’m still on good terms with a few Wily bots so we can snitch from him.”

X shrugged. “That’s fine. As long as nobody gets hurts I’m okay with it.”

Blues nodded. “Then you’re welcome to come along.”  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Contrary to popular belief, Blues can be nice. However, his kindness is usually only reserved for Rock (for now). As finding X and keeping an eye on him is a favor for Rock, Blues is a little easier to get along with. He also recognizes that X has been through several wars and is significantly more powerful than he lets on. Therefore, it would be more beneficial for Blues if he played nice and made himself less threatening. Thus, Blues is unnaturally friendly in this chapter.


	4. Zero

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zero wakes up. He remembers. . . . Wait, what? Also, everybody blames Light. 
> 
> NOTE: I apologize for any headaches this chapter gives you. I will explain some of it below if it is difficult for you to understand. If you have any questions, let me know. When I posted this on fanfiction.net, many people commented about how it was difficult to read and confusing. I completely understand, but also, it was an experiment and ff.net doesn't support the formatting I wanted. Formatting still isn't great here because apparently I can't indent manually and it doesn't always transfer from word.

_SYSTEMS BOOTING . . . ._

_SCANNING SYSTEMS . . ._

_ << _

_ERROR: 21XX BLACK_ ARMOR UNAVAILABLE. . ._

_ERROR: 21XX ABSOLUTE_ZERO_ARMOR UNAVAILABLE. . ._

_ERROR: 23XX LIGHT_WEIGHT_TITANIUM_FIBER_ARMOR UNAVAILABLE. . ._

_UNIT FUNCTIONALITY: 95% . . ._

_DEFAULT ARMOR EMPLOYED. . . ._

_ERROR: THRUSTERS MISSING_

_ << _

_DASH FUNCTION UNABLE TO BE ENGAGED . . ._

_UNIT FUNCTIONALITY: 75% . . ._

_ << _

_SYSTEMS LIKELY TO BE DAMAGED MORE . . ._

_BEGIN RESTORING DASH FUNCTION?_

_Y/N?_

_Y_

_DASH FUNCTION RESTORATION IN PROCESS . . . ._

_ESTIMATED TIME TO COMPLETION: 12 HOURS . . ._

_ERROR: ARMOR ENHANCEMENTS MISSING_

_ << _

_SYSTEMS MORE SUSCEPTIBLE TO DAMAGE . . ._

_UNIT FUNCTIONALITY: 55% . . ._

_ <<_

_SYSTEM DURABILITY LESS THAN 50% . . ._

_BEGIN RESTORING ARMOR ENHANCEMENTS?_

_Y/N?_

_Y_

_ARMOR ENHANCEMENTS IN PROGRESS . . ._

_ESTIMATED TIME TO COMPLETION: 24 HOURS . . ._

_ERROR: BATTERY CAPACITY LOW_

_ << _

_UNABLE TO SUPPORT DASH FUNCTION . . ._

_UNABLE TO SUPPORT HIGH ENERGY FUNCTIONS . . ._

_UNIT FUNCTIONALITY: 30% . . ._

_ <<_

_UNIT LIKELY TO RUN LOW ON BATTERY . . ._

_UPGRADE BATTERY?_

_Y/N?_

_Y_

_BATTERY UPGRADE IN PROGRESS . . ._

_ESTIMATED TIME TO COMPLETION: 10 HOURS . . ._

_ERROR: EMP_RESISTER MISSING . . ._

_ << _

_SYSTEMS SUSCEPTIBLE TO EMP BLASTS_

_UNIT FUNCTIONALITY: 25% . . ._

_ <<_

_SYSTEMS SUSCEPTIBLE TO EMP BLASTS_

_RESTORE EMP_RESISTER?_

_Y/N?_

_Y_

_RESTORING EMP_ RESISTOR. . ._

_ESTIMATED TIME TO COMPLETION: 1 HOURS . . ._

_ERROR: UNABLE TO FIND Z_SABER . . ._

_ <<_

_UNIT FUNCTIONALITY: 10% . . ._

_ <<_

_ONLY WEAPON AVAILABLE: Z_BUSTER . . ._

_DEFAULT WEAPON: Z_SABER . . ._

_DEFAULT WEAPON CHANGED TO Z_BUSTER. . ._

_UNIT FUNCTIONALITY: 15%. . . ._

_ERROR: UNIT MISSING THE FOLLOWING LOW LEVEL ENHANCEMENTS . . ._

_ <<_

_HIGH SPEED JOINTS . . ._

_GRAVITY LOCK SOLES . . ._

_SIGNAL JAMMER . . ._

_NIGHT VISION OPTICS . . ._

_TARGET SCANNER . . ._

_SIGNAL SCANNER . . ._

_NAVIGATOR LINK. . ._

_COMMAND_LINE(“pause”):_

_LIST PAUSED . . ._

_UNIT FUNCTIONALITY: 5%. . . ._

_RESTORE ALL LOW LEVEL ENHANCEMENTS?_

_Y/N?_

_Y_

_ENHANCEMENT RESTORATION IN PROGRESS. . ._

_ESTIMATED TIME TO COMPLETION: 48 HOURS . . ._

_NO OTHER MISSING SYSTEMS. . ._

_TOTAL ESTIMATED TIME TO COMPLETION: 95 HOURS_

_ <<_

_ERROR: RAW MATERIALS LOW_

_ <<_

_SOME RESTORATION PLACED ON STANDBY . . ._

_MEMORY STABLE . . ._

_ <<_

_NO MISSING DATA FILES . . ._

_CORE STABLE . . ._

_SYSTEMS SCAN COMPLETE . . ._

_ERROR: NOT ALL SYSTEMS ENGAGED. . ._

_ <<_

_RESTORATION IN PROGRESS. . .  
<<_

_RAW MATERIALS LOW . . ._

_ <<_

_SOME RESTORATIONS PLACED ON STANDBY . . ._

_CONTINUE BOOTING SYSTEMS?_

_Y/N?  
Y_

_SYSTEMS BOOTING. . ._

_ALL SYSTEMS ONLINE . . ._

Once he had full control of his systems, Zero burst from his pod, breaking through the glass and barely even wincing as the various cords plugged into him ripped out of their sockets. His buster was engaged and pointing at the various inhabitants of the room before his feet touched the ground and his body slid to a stop.

“JESUS CHRIST! SHIT! I SHOULD HAVE _KNOWN_ THIS WAS A BAD IDEA!”

The old man that spoke, human, he noted, dove behind a large blue reploid shaped sort of like a fan. He scanned the room, taking note of the presence of over twenty-five reploids, each with their own unique design, which meant they were probably more powerful than your average grunt reploid. Some part of him, an old memory file, recognized the units before him, recognized the human. His eyes unfocused slightly and he blinked as he recalled the information.

Not reploids. _Robot masters._ And the human was his creator. Doctor Albert Wily. And there was Quickman, Flashman, Heatman, Forte, Airman, Gyroman, Metalman, Crashman, Geminiman, Snakeman, the list went on.

He trained his buster in the doctor’s direction, to where he saw the white fabric peeking out from beside Airman’s arm. Not a lethal shot, but that wasn’t his intention.

“How are you still alive?” he asked, beginning to charge his buster slightly. He resisted the urge to wrinkle his nose in dislike. He preferred his sword. Busters were noisy and difficult to handle.

“I’m still alive because I _prepared_ for shit going down like it did in the castle! No thanks to _you_!”

“The castle?” he paused, confused, then jerked in understanding as his memory caught up to him. He’d wonder why he remembered his time before a maverick hunter later. He had more pressing matters to deal with now. “No, that’s not what I meant. It’s 23XX. You should be fifty feet under by now. You’re _human_.”

All other members in the room blinked at him in disbelief.

“It’s _20_ XX,” one of the robot masters, Quickman, countered.

Zero narrowed his eyes in confusion.

“That’s not . . . No, it’s _23_ XX. I think I would know considering I’ve witnessed the last three hundred years. Er, I wasn’t _awake_ for all of that but point still stands.”

For several moments, nobody said a word.

“What the hell?!” the doctor practically shouted after several moments. “You were _built_ eight months ago!”

“What?” Zero’s confusion made his form falter and his buster drop from where it was focused on the doctor’s arm.

“Doc, what did you _do?_ ” Quickman asked, approaching Zero cautiously.

“I didn’t do anything! I didn’t _touch_ his memory files! Dammit back away from him! I don’t feel like rebuilding your body after he goes crazy and breaks your idiotic ass! Or worse, you don’t want to end up like _Gravityman_ now do you?”

Zero paused as the name stirred yet another old memory file. “Gravityman?” The memory file hit him like a train as soon as he uttered the name. He paled in horror. “I . . . I crushed his head.”

“Yes, you destroyed his _I.C.,_ what made Gravity _Gravity._ Doc has the blueprints and the base programming, but whatever he builds won’t be Gravityman,” Gyroman hissed.

Wily looked Zero over cautiously. “Gyro! Enough! We’ll deal with the past later. Right now, we need to figure out what the hell is wrong with him. Because even though I got rid of what made him evil, he can still _choose_ to be.”

Zero’s faced scrunched up in concentration and his buster completely lowered before dissipating. Several of the robot masters visibly relaxed at this.

“I don’t . . . . I don’t understand. All of you should be dead. X . . . X said all of the robot masters were dead. And _you_ ,” he looked pointedly at Wily, “should be dead as well cause humans don’t live three hundred years.”

Wily frowned, eyes narrowing in suspicion as Zero mentioned X.

“We _just_ told you,” Forte hissed, “Wily finished creating you eight months ago. These hundreds of years you keep mentioning? Yeah, _never_ happened. And there must _seriously_ be something wrong with your head if you believe that such a thing is real.”

Zero frowned further. “That’s . . . . impossible. The maverick wars, the elf wars, Sigma . . . . hell, _Neo Arcadia_ , surely _something_ rings a bell with any of you?” His voice and words didn’t portray the desperation his mind was screaming.

The robot masters shook their heads and Zero started panicking. Not _real?!_

Wily studied the android carefully. It seemed that there was something wrong with Zero’s head. Maybe he did something when he was replacing the code? But that didn’t mess with memory files did it? And then it hit him. Zero’s mind never really shut down. Not after he’d plugged him into the pod. He thought it was odd, but figured it was just his mind adjusting to the change in programming, which by the way, was a pain in the ass to do because as an android, Zero was not meant to have his code messed with. Wily, however, was not an idiot, and knowing just how _well_ his robots seemed to betray him in some way (mostly Break’s fault), built a failsafe just in case.

That being said, every time Wily checked in on Zero, his mind was always _active_ , which scared him and was the main reason he hadn’t woken him up prior to now because he was terrified of what would happen. There was a moment when Zero’s mind went inactive, but close to a month later, and it started back up again. The only reason he chose to do so now was because Zero’s mind had been silent for a couple of months and he’d only just recently worked up the courage to activate Zero and try to figure out what was going on.

Knowing Zero’s programming the way that he did, Wily knew that there was _no way_ that Zero would willingly allow his mind to be tampered with. So whatever happened in the pod, whatever made his mind active, was something that Zero allowed.

Perhaps then that these memories that Zero seemed to have, his belief that it was really three hundred ( _three hundred_ ) years in the future, was some sort of elaborate dream his head cooked up for him.

Which, of _course,_ Zero had been dreaming about war.

It didn’t quite add up though. Dreams, yes even robot masters were capable in some instances, but there was always some understanding that it wasn’t real. Especially when they woke up. Zero, however, couldn’t seem to make such distinctions, which bothered Wily, since he knew he’d put the most advanced AI systems he had in Zero. Zero _should_ be smarter, stronger, faster . . . If a robot master wasn’t fooled by dreaming, then _Zero_ shouldn’t be either. Then again, Zero wasn’t designed with the full capabilities of a robot master in mind. Wily had made Zero to be the strongest battle robot he’d ever created and did _not_ want Breakman meddling with his programing. Networking was _dangerous_ with Break around. So while Zero was designed to be smarter, he didn’t have the same . . . mental qualities that gave robot masters the edge they had over the network.

No networking capabilities. Well, let him rephrase, Zero could connect to the internet. Could he command it and usurp all levels of hell by doing so? No. Zero wasn’t meant to control robots. As much as Wily would have liked to make Zero domineering over the network as well, he wasn’t willing to take that risk with Break leering over his shoulder. He’d already made that mistake with Forte. (Wily was _still_ trying to figure out how the hell Break, the first robot master ever built, managed to commandeer his most advanced robot master in networking yet.)

So was Wily going to let Break take control of his greatest intended creation? No, no he was _not._

Which meant that Zero was built like an android, like _X_ (Wily curled his lip at the thought of Light’s most recent creation. He’d yet to meet the android, but he was certain that X was programmed (or brainwashed considering how hard it was to program personalities into androids) to be as sickenly sweet as Megaman). More importantly, Zero was programmed to be more _human_ than any other robot master he’d ever built. And humans had at least some grasp of distinction between dream world and reality.

So no matter which way he looked at it, Zero _shouldn’t_ be like this. Which meant that something was wrong.

Wily blamed Light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are several things I feel the need to explain about this chapter. One is the "unit functionality" bit. Zero was built for battle, so it's only natural that his systems will recognize the fact that he is no longer as strong as he once was and come to the conclusion that he's no longer as FUNCTIONAL as he once was. His systems recognize him as being less and less able to fight the more errors he receives. He can still fight, but he is reduced more to what he was like at the beginning of the X series (logically). I hold the belief that war enhances technology and because of that, X and Zero should be WAY stronger than what they were at the beginning in order to keep up with new mavericks. This isn't really apparent in the games. Neither is it really apparent in this fic yet. Zero doesn't have the same evolutionary capabilities as X, so his systems haven't evolved over time as much. Later chapters will explain this more, they will also explain how X has shotput ice, despite the fact that the maverick he got the ability from never even existed.  
> The "COMMAND_LINE"("pause") is me getting tired of writing errors. Just understand that there's more and it's all just minor little enhancements that have made Zero stronger over the years/  
> The light_weight_titanium_fiber_armor is me coming up with a way to describe the Megaman Zero armor.  
> Otherwise, everything else should be relatively understandable.  
> As to why Zero remembers, why he has so many errors, and what's up with Wily's little rant about Breakman? All in due time. If there's something your still confused about, just let me know and I'll try to explain it.


	5. Suspicion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> X socializes, somethings going on with Rock, Blues is paranoid, and there's yet another person that knows X and Zero?

X, Blues discovered, was _a lot_ like Rock. _A lot_. But they were different too at the same time. Blues chalked it up to the hell X lived through for so many years. He’d stopped considering the pod’s lies to be a fake reality a few days after meeting X. To X, those years were real, and they’d affected him just as much, no probably more, than Blues’ time with him did. Thus, Blues did not see any reason to _not_ accept X’s time in the pod as a reality.

X was still depressed and struggled to find a reason to keep going. He slept a lot. _Far_ more than what he needed and probably far more than what was healthy for him. He used that term loosely. X wasn’t human so logically X shouldn’t be affected by the extended downtime. However, Blues was worried that sleeping too much could mess with his settings, and the data the so-called “X-factor” was receiving. Rock briefly described the X-factor when they met, and Blues chalked it up to be some sort of sensitive upgrading system. He wasn’t sure what exactly triggered it, but he wasn’t willing to have it changing something in X that made it harder for the android to adjust.

So when X got into a particularly nasty slump, Blues would show up and whack him over the head with a branch of some sort until the android sheepishly smiled and _moved_. Blues allowed him to take it slow. If X had been a robot master, Blues would have forced him to get over it _weeks_ ago. But Blues couldn’t do that, because X was an _android_. He wasn’t capable of even _linking_ with his siblings, which was another thing Blues hated Dr.Light for. Joining minds with another robot master was a source of comfort for them when under distress. Dr.Light had made it impossible for X to do so and while this protected him from a robot master’s ability to control and in general, most nasty things over any sort of connection, wireless or corded, it also prevented Blues from helping the bot in the best way he knew.

He also understood though that such a thing was probably considered to be a huge invasion of privacy in X’s mind and didn’t bring up the subject.

It frustrated Blues, because his favorite subordinate unit (not that Light _knew_ that little tidbit of information) had asked him to _fix_ X and he _couldn’t_. Not in the way he was used to. Blues had no control, no command over X like he did the other robot masters.

And quite frankly he didn’t want to force X like that anyway, because doing something like that was alarmingly familiar to something Light would do and might push X away from _Blues_ too.

No, linking was not an option. They’d figure something out but linking was _not_ an option.

On a better note, X seemed to be slowly opening up to Blues. He still wasn’t very clear on all the details of the hell he went through in the pod. Rock had stretched the limits of Light’s orders to tell him as much as he did, which wasn’t much, but it was enough to understand that X had lost far more than Blues and considering Blues was _still_ considered to be mopey (it was part of who he was dammit) by other robot masters, he didn’t think X was going to be okay for a long time.

“Blues?” Said robot master turned and looked at the android as he approached, sifting through the leaves of a bush. They were currently hiding out in a forest, Blues was more easily recognized, and he didn’t want X to be at risk because he was staying with the robot master. It didn’t help that Blues had returned to wearing his armor all the time now and was clearly _not_ human to anyone who saw him.

Blinking, he cleared his head and forced his processors to focus on X, who clearly had something to say judging from the way he was hovering nearby, intently focused on Blues. That was another thing that separated the two. Rock was shyer, he would shuffle his feet sometimes whenever he was asking something trivial of the elder robot master; X asked with more confidence. They did, however, both rub the back of their heads when asking, which was how Blues knew that X’s next words weren’t of utmost importance.

Blues didn’t vocally respond, but he knew that X understood his mannerisms well enough to know that when Blues turned to him, the eldest robot master was listening.

“Do you think that it’s okay for me to head into town as long as I don’t have my armor on?” X asked, still rubbing the back of his head. Blues blinked. What did X need from town? As far as he knew, the android had fully functional parts and his battery was decently full (the android hadn’t settled down to fully charge in the sun in a few days though), courtesy of his solar-powered core. So what on earth could the android be needing? X, sensing his confusion within the silence, continued. “I don’t need anything. It’s just . . . .” he paused and then sighed. “Wildlife, scenery, and hanging out with you is great, loads better than staying at Light’s, so I’m grateful for that, but-.”

X didn’t need to continue any further as Blues caught on.

“You were designed as a human interface unit. You want to go socialize,” Blues surmised. X nodded, internally wincing a bit at Blues’ wording. He’d grown used to how the robot master took a very literal approach to how things worked, always seeming to divert to coding in order to explain how and why a robotic unit functioned, but it still made him realize how blatantly different the robots of the real world were in comparison to the ones in the pod. Robot masters were literal, focused, and always acted with purpose. The reploids in his memories? They were disorganized, easily distracted (in comparison to robot masters), sometimes doing things on a whim, and _human-like_. Robot masters didn’t just _feel_ like being lazy one day. It literally wasn’t possible for them to do so. Reploids, on the other hand, were going to lay in bed and eat ice cream if they felt like it even if it wasn’t productive in any way shape, or form.

“You’d think after hundreds of years in the pod with experience like that I’d have my fill but,” X paused, unsure how to continue without possibly insulting the robot master. Blues sighed.

“X you were designed to be human-like. Socializing is a vital part of society. It’s no surprise that you miss it. I’m sorry I didn’t think of it sooner. Yes, it’s probably safe, just make sure you keep scanning your surroundings and make sure that you don’t bump into anybody . . . mechanical. I’ll,” he paused uncertainly. If things went downhill, he wasn’t sure he could get to X before he was offlined if he was too far away. “Tag along from a short distance, just in case.”

X shrugged. He expected no less. He was just happy that Blues was letting him _go_. If Blues had said no, he probably would have asked for an explanation and if it was reasonable, he would likely listen, but if Blues’ defense could be countered, he was going, regardless of what the robot master thought. He could handle himself and wasn’t going to spend his entire life hiding from Light. However, discovering his life was a lie had made him significantly less secure than he was near the end of the time in the pod. He found himself reverting to old habits, a shyer, more cautious and while he hated himself for it, _weaker_ version of himself. He hadn’t been this way in a long time, years of war had hardened him into somebody who was strong enough to handle pretty much anything. Now though? He wasn’t even sure it was even as strong as when he first woke up in the pod, when he was still filled with the promise he made to Light.

A promise that he still found himself wanting to keep. Not because of Light, but because it seemed to be the only thing he knew how to do.

X shook his head and refocused. Socializing, he reminded himself. Drawing farther into himself while with Blues would do him no good. He needed to find people to talk to. God how he wished that he could find somebody that understood. Somebody he could rant to and not be thought crazy. Blues was amazingly accepting of X’s condition. In fact, the eldest robot master seemed to almost accept X’s life in the pod as reality and treated his condition for what it was. Trauma. Not insanity.

But Blues for all his similarities of being wronged by Light, did not, _could_ not understand entirely what X had gone through. Blues hadn’t seen war like X had, hadn’t had _literally_ everything taken away from him. By the end of the eighth war, after both Axl and Alia had died and Zero was sealed away indefinitely, X had thought that he’d lost everything. That nothing else could be taken away from him. He was wrong. Oh god was he wrong. Because Light had managed to take away reality itself.

It would be so much _easier_ if he had somebody that understood, that had been through everything along with him. Somebody like . . . Zero. But Zero didn’t remember and to top it off, he was evil. X had no doubt that fate would be leading them towards each other again and X would have to . . . he would have to . . . .

He didn’t feel like finishing that thought.

Even despite all this, X made a conscious effort to adjust to the current world and to move on. Because it wouldn’t get better the longer he let himself be swallowed up by the past.

But it was so _hard._ Everything was so different. For a brief moment, he was amazed by the fact that Light was able to create a machine that could so perfectly create an alternate universe, filled with computer generate consciousnesses and AIs that always seemed _human._ Part of this social outing was to determine if his understanding of human mindsets was correct. The rest of it was to determine if he could function as a member of society even if he was terribly jaded. He doubted he’d ever be able to settle down, always instead stuck with a life on the run, but at least this way he could reassure himself that he wasn’t completely insane.

Noticing that Blues was still staring at him, X allowed a small smile to crawl up his face. “Thanks,” he stated. Blues nodded, scowling a bit but ultimately still as expressionless as always.

* * *

Blues watched carefully from above a rooftop as X conversed with the waitress of a riverside restaurant. He’d made sure X caught a glimpse of him earlier, just to keep the android aware that Blues was there. He didn’t want to intrude too much, so he only tuned into their conversation every once in a while and kept a processor focused solely on X’s condition. Instead, he settled down on the roof and started up a long-distance messaging system with Elecman, intending to figure out just what the hell was going on in Light Labs. The last time he checked in was nearly three weeks ago and Light was still throwing a fit about the loss of X.

Conversing with Elecman from so far away forced him to use slightly less secure methods, so he felt insecure about staying in his current location after doing so for long. It didn’t matter, because he was going to push for moving after X finished his outing anyways.

Closing his eyes as he laid down on the roof tile, he established a connection with the younger robot master. He couldn’t establish a connection like this with Rock as Light knew that they were on good terms and made several precautions to prevent such a link from ever happening. Elecman, however, was seen as being loyal to the doctor and Light didn’t have as many firewalls and defenses set up around the lightning robot master.

Part of Blues couldn’t wait to see the look on Light’s face when he realized that the entire robot master population had been feigning loyalty to him and Wily for years now. The other, more rational, side of him wanted to ensure such a thing _never_ happened because Light was _dangerous_ and if he discovered such an issue, _so_ many things could go wrong in a single moment. Light could prevent Blues from commanding the robot masters or worse, _retire_ all of them, _including_ Rock.

Refocusing on his task, he sent an inquiry across the link and the connection flared, Elecman’s presence flooding over the connection.

/ _Protoman/_ Elecman greeted, sending a polite mix of signals to the eldest robot master.

_/What’s the situation back at the labs?/_ He demanded, cutting straight to the point. Business _always_ came first, that way if something happened and they were cut off, he wouldn’t be cut off from something important.

_/The usual, or so says Rock./_

Blues frowned. He didn’t like it when another robot master doubted the younger robot.

_/I don’t mean it that way, Protoman./_ Elecman quickly added, sensing the eldest’s displeasure. _/Rock’s been giving me the same message for the last few months. The first few were odd but overlookable. I started getting suspicious after the third. It’s not word for word, but the general message is the same. And there’s no . . . side talk in it like there usually is. It’s straight to the point, which is unlike Mega./_

Blues frowned. That was concerning.

_/Any idea why?/_ Blues asked. For Rock to be of such few and similar words likely meant that Light had tacked another command onto his list of restrictions and now the younger robot master could not give accurate reports to other robot masters.

_/As you’d probably already guessed, I’d say Light’s trying to hide something. I’d go in there myself and investigate more but the facility’s undergoing renovations and my boss will be pissed if I leave again. He wasn’t very happy last time./_

_/I’ll take care of it./_ Blues responded. There was no need to override Elec’s primary functions for this yet. _/Any reason why you didn’t contact me with this earlier?/_

_/I wasn’t sure. It wasn’t until Rock sent the same general message to Ice and Torch that I realized what was going on. The first couple of months were normal. Light had been working on a couple of new robot masters. Rock assumed they were for the Steiner request. I only check in weekly at best./_

Elecman’s situation was admittingly understandable, even if it did grate on Blues’ systems in the most annoying way. Elec hadn’t been told to keep an eye on Rock, that was simply something the lightning-based robot master had taken upon himself. Normally, keeping an eye on Rock fell to Roll’s or Auto’s shoulders and if the two of them hadn’t told him about this, then either they didn’t know or they were as restricted as Rock was. But, Blues couldn’t establish long-distance links with Roll or Auto, again, the security around the house was too strong. Blues could break through it, easily in fact, but the chances of Light noticing something like that was too high for comfort.

Which meant that if he wanted that sort of info, he’d have to get close enough to Light labs to establish a connection over a robot master’s private network, likely one that was generated by Blues himself. And with him tasked with keeping an eye on X, getting close to Light labs wasn’t something he was comfortable with either. 

Nonetheless, he needed to get to the bottom of this and quickly. He couldn’t go himself, not when he was trying to protect X, so he needed somebody who was good enough to cloak himself on the network and break into Light Labs to avoid being discovered, at least until after the information had been retrieved and the infiltrator was long gone.

Which pretty much left him with one obvious choice. Wily was going to be pissed he stole one of his robot masters again.

Blues stretched out across the web, finding a faint but still present signal buried within. Blues yanked on it and the signal strengthened as he established another connection with the now apparent robot master he’d just made contact with.

Shadowman responded to Blues’ demands cautiously but recognized that the eldest robot master was not currently in the mood for dawdling and shortened his list of normal protocols in order to respond faster. He only barely acknowledged the partial link with the electric light bot before speaking.

_/Breakman. What is the issue?/_

_/I need you to break into Light labs and figure out what Light is doing. Rock’s been acting odd and I need you to figure out why. Also, evaluate the threat level of Light’s new robot masters_./

Shadow tilted his head from where he stood in one of Wily’s fortresses, ignoring the confused looks from his siblings as he stopped and pondered Breakman’s words. For Rock to be acting odd, likely meant that Light had ordered him to do something (or not to) that was messing with his normal functions. Such a thing was deeply frowned upon among robot masters. Not even Wily pushed a robot master that far.

And to hear that Light was working on new robot masters? Light had mostly been focusing on corporate requests and mechanaloids ever since the first generation. Dealing with Wily’s robot masters was enough of a hassle. New robot masters likely spelled trouble.

_/I will get on that immediately. Tonight_./ Shadow responded. He couldn’t do so during the day because that was likely when Light was hounding the lab the most. He’d still have to be careful though, because Light had a bad habit of staying up late to finish projects or sleeping in the lab.

/ _I will keep in touch with Roll and let you know if Light retires for the night./_ Elec offered. Blues hummed, pleased, as the conversation continued and the two robot masters from opposite sides plotted the best way to scope out what was happening. It was growing dark now for Blues and X, but it was midday for Light. It would be early morning by the time Light should tuck in for bed and X hadn’t laid down to fully charge in a few days, so Blues would suggest it this morning.

/ _Is there anything else you desire?/_ Shadow asked. Blues thought for a moment.

/ _Not really but standby. However, my order from two years ago still stands./_ Blues ignored the confusion that emanated from Elec’s link as Shadow’s responded with an affirmative. / _I will ping you with my location at three in the morning, Light’s time. X tends to sleep when he charges so I will have time to work this out. Try to have the job done by then and keep Elecman updated. Elecman,/_

Elec’s signal surged for a moment as he responded to Blues’ command. / _Do you have any current orders that will interfere with this plan?/_

_/No./_ Elec answered.

_/Any current orders to find X or report anything about him to Light?/_

Another negative from the light bot. / _Light canceled that order once I went back on duty. My bosses here complain when I’m not fully focused on my job./_

_/Good. Be prepared. If things go south, I might pull you aside to keep an eye on X if I have to leave. He recognizes you as being unwillingly hostile so it won’t take much to convince him to not blow your head off./_

_/Of course./_

_/Fill in Shadowman on the most up to date security measures at the lab that you know./_ Blues eased up and listened in silence as the two robot masters began conversing again. Once the deed was finished and he was satisfied with Shadowman’s level of understanding of the mission, he stepped in again. _/Elecman, you never gave Shadowman or myself ANY of the information you just told us if Light or any other robot master asks. That’s a direct order. Is that clear?/_

_/Yes./_

_/Good. Shadowman, the same stands for you. This never happened. Direct order./_

_/Yes sir./_

_/Now act normal until tonight. Elecman, await my orders. Shadowman, move when you think its right. That will be all./_ And he pulled away, severing the two links in one fluid motion.

He opened his eyes just as he received a gentle nudge on his right side. Blues quickly scanned X’s slightly concerned face above him and relaxed slightly as he determined that nothing had happened to X, the android was just concerned about Blues for some reason.

“Is your battery low?” X asked, because Blues didn’t respond when he called his name a few times and only moved when X nudged him. He hadn’t seen the robot master charge before and merely assumed that the robot master was solar-powered like he was.

Blues sat up and shook his head.

“No, I merely had business to take care of,” he responded and then took note of the now darkened sky, pondering it for a moment. His conversation with Elecman and Shadowman had taken more time than he had thought. It had been nearly an hour since he and X had entered the city. “How was your outing?”

X tilted his head at him confused. “I assumed you were listening in.”

Blues shook his head. “I had more important matters to deal with and only tuned in every so often.” The processor that was designated on X’s condition was focused mainly on analyzing threats rather than recording the conversation. His memory of X’s conversation with the waitress was sketchy at best, filled with static voids and only half processed information.

X blinked at him for a couple of moments before shrugging and answering his earlier question. “It went well. The waitress was good company. She recognized I wasn’t one to talk about my own life and she ended up gushing about her child for much of the conversation. It was enduring, but she didn’t speak of the father which makes me believe that he’s out of the picture. Single mom living off of a waitress’ paycheck? That’s a recipe for disaster. I know we’re struggling a bit for money and supplies, but I left her a twenty. We can figure out how to get by better than she can.”

Blues nodded. He expected no less. “I’d like to switch locations again. I know it’s a bit sooner than normal, but between this outing and the . . . lengths I had to go through with my own business, there’s a possibility that our location, at least on the internet, has been exposed, and I’d rather not take the chance that Light knows where we are.”

X nodded. He’d assumed as much. Blues was paranoid as hell, but still took great lengths to make sure that his paranoia didn’t interfere with X’s quality of life as much as possible. The robot master held out his arm and X took it without hesitation. A flash of light and surge of electricity later and they were gone.

* * *

Pharaohman scanned the room carefully, his red eyes settling on a hunched form over the table. If he had been designed with a mouth it would have been frowning, but as it were, he settled instead for a disapproving stare in the offender’s direction. It was dark out and the room itself was as consequence, also similarly lit, but that mattered not to a robot master who was designed to investigate lightless tombs and ancient caverns.

He carefully walked over to the offender, making sure not to step on the scattered, fallen papers as he got close. Gently he placed a hand on the offender’s shoulder and pulled until the humanoid form was slumped against the back of the chair it was sitting in. Pharaoh let loose a fond sigh and shook his head. Even in the darkness he could make out the spiky auburn hair and scarred face, the baggy black sweatshirt, and similarly fitting pants that the offender likely found for only a few dollars at some thrift store.

“You need to charge more frequently, little brother.” Pharaoh chided as he scooped the offender up in his arms and sighed appropriately. The offender stirred briefly as Pharaoh began the short journey to the nearest charging pod.

“Pharaoh?” the offender mumbled tiredly. “Why are you carrying me?”

“You were passed out in a chair.”

“Was I?” the offender asked. “Still . . . mmf had five . . .”

“Five percent is _not_ a healthy number to be running off of.”

“ . . . Gotta find . . . X . . .”

“You’ll find him, but you can’t run yourself to the ground trying to do so. He wouldn’t approve.”

“ . . . Shoulda told him . . .”

Pharaoh was silent for a moment.

“You did what you should have done. Telling him might have caused him more pain in the end. We didn’t know how the pod would have reacted. It could have wiped his mind completely and that . . .” Pharaoh shuddered, jostling his passenger a bit. “That would have been bad. You both would have lost everything.”

“I know . . . but he’s hurting _now_.” Pharaoh’s passenger was surprisingly coherent as he spoke that line, emphasizing such an acute awareness of somebody else’s pain.

“You’re already doing everything you can.”

“Need to find him . . . need to tell him that Zero knows. . . .”

Another pause as Pharaoh settled his passenger into the pod.

“Have you thought about speaking to Zero first?”

“ . . . . Ain’t he still sealed up?”

“I have not conversed with the Wily bots in some time. It has been several months, and perhaps there has been some change. It does not seem likely that Wily would simply seal such a robot away if he had no intention of ever awakening the bot again. If Zero was doomed to never awake again, he would have been scrapped for parts. I have no idea how Wily gets all the supplies he has but I imagine it’s not easy. Zero would have been destroyed if Wily had no intention of fixing him. Perhaps Wily already has if the fact that he was good in the simulation was anything to go by.”

“Mmf . . . too many words, Pharaoh . . . can’t . . . process.”

“Go to sleep little brother. We’ll speak of this when you have awakened fully charged.”

“Sure . . . thing.”  
Pharaoh backed away and the pod hissed closed. He stood there standing vigil over his sleeping brother before turning on his heel and facing a frog themed robot master that approached from behind. A moment’s thought later and the two were linked across a generated networking system.

/ _Did you find anything_?/ Pharaoh asked after sending a polite signal greeting to his amphibian brother.

/ _Sort of. I caught a few of Break’s inner circle speaking of some bot that Break’s been watching over. Not Mega. I nearly got my butt kicked for eavesdropping, but managed to get away with nothing more than a stern warning. I can’t get caught with something again. Not anytime soon. Unless of course, I want to talk to the big guy./_ The agricultural robot master shuddered.

_/Lay low then. There’s no need to make Break upset or suspicious. We are no threat to his command. I’ll inquire for a short meeting with Break. Perhaps he will amuse me. I will tell him first about our younger brother. I will not inquire about X to start off with. That will only make Break defensive and suspicious, which will also make him difficult to bargain with./_

_/You sure we should let Break in on Cossack’s little secret? I mean, Break won’t be able to command him, considering he’s an android and all that. He might just . . . well . . . you know what happened to the copy./_

_/The copy was an entirely different situation. Break doesn’t work well with copies. Axl is not a copy./_

_/Yeah but his coding . . ./_

_/I’m not going to tell Break about his coding nor about what our younger brother can do, not yet, just his history and what truly has been going on with the pod./_

_/You sure that’s a good idea? Break’s probably going to be pissed enough that we’ve been keeping a new built from him for so long./_

_/I think you have a very misguided understanding of Protoman. It will all work out. We just need to step carefully from here on out. Warn our siblings that we’re going to be dancing on thin ice with the eldest, but leave the actual talking with Break to me./_

_/No problem with that. Try to come back in one piece though, brother/_

With a slight nod in Pharaoh’s direction, the frog themed robot master turned and quite literally hopped away with a clang. Pharaoh looked back towards the pod.

“The things I do for you, little brother,” then sighing, he continued. “Let’s go kick a hornet’s nest.”

He paused near the doorway. “A hornet’s nest that rips off limbs. Breakman indeed.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any questions? Just ask! I'll try to answer. I'm not good at responding to comments, but if its a question, I for sure will. Not much to say about this chapter other than I'm mostly okay with it. Could've done better but meh.


	6. A Seed of Doubt is Planted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blues, who X has had no reason to distrust so far, suddenly seems to have an ulterior motive and a kind of power that terrifies X. Blues is reluctant to explain and a rift is formed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: There's a lot of cursing in this chapter because Wily and a very upset and stressed out Blues. Kinda pushes it closer to mature than teen.

X blinked in confusion as they reappeared. The lighting was the same, which meant that it was about the same time in this new area than where they were previously. He sent his older brother a curious glance, hoping the robot master would explain.

“I might be contacted by an ally of mine and I’d rather stay relatively in the same area so he can find me should he need to,” Blues responded. X nodded.

“Who?” he asked, because his elder brother didn’t talk much about anybody he kept in touch with.

“A Wily bot or Elecman,” he responded truthfully. “It’s unlikely that either one of them will be coming in person. In fact, I’d be upset with them if they did. If they need me, they’ll send a message across the network. But just in case something happens, I’d rather give the option of being nearby if they needed to teleport to my last known location.”

X nodded slowly. He was a little bit wary about letting Elecman know where he was. He didn’t have anything against the electric robot master himself, in fact, he found he trusted the robot quite a bit after he’d helped X escape from Light. However, Elecman _did_ seem to work for Light, and that posed a problem and likely made the two of them enemies.

Blues, as if sensing X’s distress, elaborated on the issue slightly.

“Elec is not under any current orders to out your position or condition to Light. I made sure to ask.”

X raised an eyebrow in Blues’ direction. “And you’re sure he wasn’t lying?” He trusted Blues’ judgement, he really did, but the wars had pounded the necessity of vigilance into him. Blues smiled slightly and nodded.

“Elecman cannot lie to me,” Blues replied. Confused, X briefly tried to get a better explanation out of the robot but failed immensely.

Sighing, X gave up on pestering his brother and further studied their surroundings. They appeared to be at some sort of canyon, with a semi-dense pine forest to their backs and the miles-long expanse of rock stretched out in front of them. Even in the darkness, X could pick out the colorful rock which very briefly matched up with a faint memory.

“I’ve seen this place before,” X murmured and he narrowed his eyes in concentration. Blues spared him a glance.

“Have you? This was our next destination regardless, unless of course, something more alarming happened and it wasn’t safe to stay relatively close. We’re still miles away from our previous location, mind you.”

“Yes, this,” he paused and then gasped slightly as he realized where he’d seen it. “This is the _Grand Canyon_!” X’s eyes had widened incredibly at the realization and he was almost frozen with disbelief.

“Indeed.”

“Was it _always_ this beautiful?” X practically whispered, body rigid with shock. Blues frowned at the android in concern. What the hell had the pod been filling his head with?

“It’s actually declined in beauty since I’d last seen it, but yes.” Blues’ scowl deepened when X didn’t respond, still studying the landscape.

When X finally spoke, it came out as a swear word the likes of which had Blues raising an eyebrow in amusement. “Why?” X asked not a moment later. Blues didn’t respond, not sure how to answer to such a loaded question. “Why did the pod lie to me about _everything_?” Another pause. “By the time I saw this place it was a war zone, still beautiful in its own right, but the trees were gone and so many reploids had perished here that antifreeze, coolant, and oil _seeped_ from the rock. I,” X paused. Blues fought to keep his anger with Light down and only barely managed to restrain it to shaking fists. “I was so focused on the blood and making it out of there alive that I didn’t spare much more than a glance at the rock. I didn’t think . . . I didn’t think that such a hell hole was ever once this pretty. . . Now I can’t help but be pissed that the wars, the _pod_ , had destroyed something like this.”

When the android had calmed somewhat, Blues spoke. “I apologize. We can find someplace else. I did not realize that this place held so many bad memories for you.”

X was only silent for a short moment. “No,” he practically growled, years of experience as a commanding officer seeping into his voice. “I need to start accepting the pod’s simulation as the lie that it is. I want to remember the Grand Canyon not as a place from hell but rather a place that needs to be recognized for the beauty that it is. I can’t do that if my only memory of it is a war zone.”

Blues nodded in approval and the two fell into a comfortable silence. After a few moments, X grunted and shook his head. X turned to his brother and fixed him with a determined stare.

“Where’s the best place to view the morning?” X asked and Blues smirked, holding out an arm.

It was a waste of energy to _teleport_ such a short distance, but Blues was vain in a way held in comparison only to _gods_. So when they emerged on the other side of the energy rush, X merely shook his head with fond exasperation and proceeded to gift the elder robot master with a tale from his days as a maverick hunter, when Zero still stood by his side and the world was something he understood.

He spoke until the sun had risen from the ground, Blues only occasionally chiming in, before his voice cut off with awe as the sun painted the massive expanse of rock with crimson light. The two watched in silence as the sun rose and the canyon emerged in full glory.

Blues glanced over at X and sighed as he sent out a ping to both Shadowman and Elecman, informing the two of them of his location. He’d intended on mentioning something about recharging in the light, but he couldn’t take away this moment from the android. Which meant that Blues was going to have to come clean about his intentions to some degree.

“X,” he called out. The android’s gaze snapped to him, still slightly dazed from the sights. “I may need to . . . disengage from reality today. My ally, the Wily bot, I mentioned yesterday should be doing a favor for me and, I’ll need to speak with him when he contacts me.” X nodded.

“Anything I should be concerned about?” X asked. Blues inclined his head in thought for a moment.

“As of right now? No, the issue is likely nothing of great concern, I merely just needed an assessment of the threat level it posed. For all I know, it could be nothing more than one of Light’s fits.”

X raised an eyebrow in concern. “This has something to do with Light?”

Blues paused and nodded carefully. Keeping X out of the picture completely was a bad idea. X was like Rock enough that he understood the android would be upset if Blues was handling an issue behind X’s back when it regarded their safety. He just needed to downplay the issue enough so that the android didn’t feel the need to step in.

“Rock’s behavior lately has been strange. I’ve sent somebody in to check it out. I’d go myself, but, I’d rather not leave you alone and I’m sure as hell not bringing you anywhere near the labs.”

X nodded. He’d almost preferred it that way, but at the same time . . .

“I can handle myself, Blues.”

“But do you want to risk it?” Blues asked, blues eyes narrowing in on X behind his vizor. “Light’s been cooking something up the last few months and we’re honestly not completely aware of what he’s doing. I’d keep a closer eye on him, but that’d be forcing me to risk the exposure of secrets that must at _all_ costs be kept from Light, because if Light figures out what’s really going on? Most of us would be lucky if we’re retired. But more than likely it would be reprogramming and memory wiping.”

“Us?” X asked, curious and concerned.

“The robot masters.”

“I thought they were forced to follow Light’s orders. What does he have to fear that would force him to do such a thing?”

Blues stared at him in silence for a long moment, contemplating telling him the truth. “Light’s control over the robot masters isn’t as perfect as you think it is. Even Wily doesn’t have complete command over his robots.”

“How?”

Blues paused then shook his head. “There are ways around coding. I’ve known robot masters that have managed to change their personality despite being completely resistant to such.”

X nodded and briefly thought of Zero. “I can understand that. What,” X paused as he watched Blues’ body stiffen. The eldest robot master cursed and muttered a brief apology that was carried away as he teleported, leaving X alone. Suddenly conscious of some mysterious danger, X summoned his armor and buster, scanning his surroundings carefully. He was far enough away from the observation centers that tourists shouldn’t see him, but there was still a risk that he had been spotted at some point and his location had been outed to Light.

It was several long hours before the crack of somebody teleporting sounded from behind him. X whipped around and raised his buster, charging it when the robot revealed wasn’t one that he recognized.

“My apologies for alarming you, android. My name is Shadowman. I was sent here by Breakman, or Blues as you know him, to take you to his current location.” X made no move to lower his weapon and studied the robot carefully. The robot’s armor was mostly blue and white with a black undersuit and a shuriken on his forehead. X mused that the robot’s abilities likely included efficient fighting skills and deception.

He wondered briefly why Blues thought it was a good idea to send a robot so closely modeled after a ninja, a person known for deception, in order to get X to come with.

“How do I know you’re telling the truth?”

Shadowman hummed. “I’m afraid I don’t have much proof. Only that I was the one Blues sent to investigate Megaman’s unnatural behavior, which if it helps, was caused by Light. Light had . . . overwhelmed Mega’s systems with commands essentially and it was interfering with his personality. There is a bit of a situation now and Breakman desired that I come and fetch you rather than leave you alone for much longer.”

X frowned, that made sense, but he was still cautious. He threw up his mental shields and lowered his weapon, studying Shadow’s face carefully. He didn’t trust this robot, but Blues might need help and somehow that was more important.

Damn, he’d always been a sucker for people in need, hadn’t he?

“Try anything and you’ll get a charged shot to the face,” X warned stepping forward but not disengaging his weapon. Shadow blinked.

“Of course,” the ninja robot master held out his arm and X reached out with his free hand to grab it. X would tag along for the teleportation, but he sure as hell was going to try and stay far away from a robot that probably had some talent in shutting down other robots with nanites.

X’s world dissolved into a pale blue and refocused on a dark laboratory as soon as he exited teleportation. He studied the room carefully, taking in the pale, shaking, sobbing, hysterical child, no _robot master_ , he realized, sitting on the lab table and Blues and Elecman ripping through cabinets and boxes in panic. He moved to step forward but Shadow grabbed his arm and shook his head. X blinked as he was pinged electronically. He accepted the electronic link hesitantly but tightened his mental barriers before he did so.

_/I understand that you are concerned, but Elecman cannot see you. He knows you are here. But Light does not check our computation files which is how we process wireless communication such as this. If he desires, he will only look at the video and audio files. It is best that you stay out of Elecman’s sight and do not speak so that we do not have to take drastic measures to ensure your safety./_

X nodded and focused briefly in order to formulate a response. He’d never communicated this way before.

_/What is going on?/_

Shadow frowned. _/Break may be better at explaining than I. Basically, we are concerned for Mega’s safety. Light has threatened to wipe Mega’s memory from the last three months. We are certain that he is going to carry out such threat. Right now, they are trying to find the materials necessary to preserve Mega’s memory externally./_

X paused and forced the rage down. To think that Light just went around _wiping_ people’s memory!? He couldn’t imagine that kind of fate.

_/Why does he have to go back to Light?/_

_/Because Mega is Light’s favorite. He’s not going to let go of Mega that easily and we can’t risk Mega suddenly NOT becoming Light’s favorite. We’re not ready to face off against Light yet. For now, we just have to do what we can to support each other./_

X nodded and watched the scene before him. It tore him apart not to be able to go over there and help and he was about to do so regardless of whether Elec saw him when an old man with a mustache walked in holding a large cup of what he assumed was coffee and wearing a white lab coat.

“The fuck is going on here?! Breakman what the hell?! Get your blasted Light bots out of my goddamn laboratory!!” the man exclaimed.

“ _Shut up Wily_!!” Blues snarled before turning back to his task of tearing through parts.

“The hell you looking for anyways? Quit stealing my shit! And why’s Mega here?” Wily asked, sneering when he said Mega’s name. X blinked. _Mega._ This robot was _Rock_ , X’s direct predecessor and he was just supposed to _stand_ here while Rock was clearly upset?!

“A FUCKING EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE!!” Blues practically exploded. X stepped forward, concerned and Shadow grabbed his shoulder, tightening his grip on X’s armor.

 _/WAIT. Give it time. Break is stressed, but its not the end of the world./_ Shadow urged.

_/I can help!/_

_/It’s too risky. There’s too much at stake./_ Shadow shook his head again and gently pulled X back into the shadows.

“The fuck you need an external hard drive for? Dipshit looks fine to me,” Wily muttered into his coffee mug.

“Wily. _Get. Out._ ”

“Jesus, no need to be all pissy about it,” Wily took a loud slurp from his mug and didn’t budge from his spot. He glanced around and spotted X in the corner with Shadow and narrowed his eyes.

“The hell are you?!” he asked. “Another goddamn Light bot?! Thomas needs to stop making you. He knows I’m just going to steal his shit and reprogram it.”

Blues apparently found what he’s looking for because there’s a brief grunt of success before he’s rushing over to Rock and using the cord to plug the device into a port on the back of Rock’s neck.

“What the big deal anyways?” Wily asked taking another sip as he watched the drama unfold. He was ignored.

Blues grabbed Rock’s head and stared into Rock’s eyes frowning. “I’m sorry Rock,” he muttered, still loud enough for X to hear. X didn’t understand what was happening. What was Blues apologizing for?

“I know.” Rock’s voice was shaky and emotional. Clearly, he’s under a lot of emotional stress and just barely holding it together.

For a moment, everything was quiet except for Wily obnoxiously sipping his drink. When Blues finally spoke, his voice was hard and cold.

“COMMAND LINE: Cancel all current or non-canceled COMMANDS.” Rock froze and his eyes faded out for a moment before returning to their usual blue. Blues continued. “COMMAND LINE: Download memory and program Rock.exe onto external drive.” Rock again froze and his eyes faded out. “COMMAND LINE: Do NOT follow and other commands until previous command has been completed. Affirmative?”

“Confirmed.” Rock’s voice was empty, emotionless and Blues hated it. X has no idea what’s going on but he has a feeling that he wasn’t going to like it.

“Jesus, something serious is happening here. Not sure I want to get involved,” Wily commented, sipping again.

“Get the fuck out Wily,” Blues’ voice still carried a lot of venom, but he’s clearly not as stressed now that the problem was being solved.

“Now, now, none of that.”

Blues charged his buster in response and pointed it at Wily’s face.

“Jesus, fine. I’m leaving. You need your fucking laws looked at.” Wily promptly downed the rest of his mug in a few large gulps. “Need more coffee anyways.” He turned and started walking out the door.

“YOU SHITS BETTER BE GONE BY THE TIME I GET BACK!!” Wily shouted as he walked down the hallway. He was ignored again. For several long moments the room was quiet and stressful, with X nervously frowning in the corner. Blues was still, leaning against the lab table next to Rock, but from the way Elecman kept looking at him, X realized there must be another emotional tell that Blues has that he’s not privy to. Rock hadn’t moved, eyes blank and lifeless as they stare ahead. What ever Blues had done had apparently overridden any of Rock’s other functions. He wasn’t even blinking.

X couldn’t shake the feeling of how wrong that felt.

Suddenly Blues moved and they all watch as he walked over to a metal wall and roared, slamming his fist into it and denting the metal.

“DAMMIT LIGHT!” Blues’ teeth are fixed in a firm snarl and he leans forward into the wall, pressing his head into his arm.

X wanted to say something, _anything_ , to figure out what’s going on, to be able to _help._ But Shadow had almost seemed scared of something earlier when he was telling X not to move or speak and X didn’t want to make the situation worse.

There’s a quiet beep from Rock and the childlike robot blinked before moving to unplug the wire from his neck.

“It’s done.” His voice was still shaking but there was a certain tone of reassurance and relief to it. Blues didn’t look at Rock or move from where he’s facing the wall.

“COMMAND LINE: Delete last thirty minutes and 25 seconds and shut down,” Blues growled out. Rock paused then collapsed onto the table. X couldn’t help but feel a spike of terror. Was Blues able to just _control_ other robots like that? Had he been controlling _X?!_ What the hell was going on?! Blues straightened and turned to look at Elecman who stands at attention when he does so.

“Alter your memory files. Make it look like you thwarted Shadow from taking Rock to Wily. Use Shadow’s help to do so if need be, but just do it and get Rock back to Light.” Elec nodded and stepped forward, pointedly keeping his gaze away from X’s direction and gesturing for Shadow to follow. He picked up Rock’s stiff form and teleported away, Shadow following soon after. 

Both X and Blues are quiet for some time.

“Blues, what just happened?” X asked, staring at Blues fiercely. “Because that kind of control wasn’t normal.”

“X, I. . . . I had to do it. If Light knew that we copied Rock’s memories to give to him later he would prevent us from doing so.”

“Blues, _how?!_ ”

“I can’t do it to you if that’s what you’re asking.” X couldn’t help the feeling of relief. He didn’t know why he believed Blues so easily. He just did. He’d always been quick to trust people no matter how many times it burned him. Still he couldn’t help but continue to feel uneasy about the situation.

“You didn’t answer the question,” X pressed.

Blues shrugged. “Because I’m trying to leave you out of a war, X. You’ve seen enough. No need to involve you in another.”

X frowns, unhappy with that response. “Blues, what’s going on?”

Blues doesn’t respond for a long time. “Later. I’ll explain later. Just. . . I need some time to cool off.”

X didn’t like the idea of waiting but nodded reluctantly. Blues had been reasonable so far and before now he’d given X no reason to distrust him. He couldn't shake off his feeling of uneasiness though. When Blues eventually walked over picking up the hard drive on his way and held out a hand for X to piggy back on his teleportation, X stepped forward and grabbed his arm. Blues, however, didn't miss the way X hesitated before doing so.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Getting fun yet? I did put a tag that said Blues was a badass, yes? Did I not mention that Blues also for whatever reason has the power to control other robots? I didn't? Pity. I guess I should warn you now that Blues is terrifying, especially when those he cares about are threatened.  
> Also, poor Rock. I feel really bad for what I'm doing to him and what I'm about to do to him. The robot masters have it bad, Rock perhaps even more so. He was forced to keep everything X was going through a secret because Light ordered him not to. And Rock cannot disobey an order from a superior unit. No robot master can.  
> Yes, Wily is fully aware of what Blues is capable of and what he's doing. Does he care? Not really. Sure it makes him upset and frustrated, but he understands that for the most part, Blues' actions don't really interfere with Wily's plans and as long as Wily doesn't cause problems for Blues, Blues won't cause problems for Wily. They have a delicate sort of relationship. Blues could care less about Wily hurting humanity.


	7. Blues Just Can't Seem to Get a Break

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blues is already on thin ice with X. He doesn't need anything else to worry about. Unfortunately, fate has other plans.

Zero opened one eye to watch Wily enter the room, grumbling.

“What’s got you all in a twist?’ he asked, taking note of the way Wily almost seemed to stomp like a child as he grumbled.

“Damn Light bots. They’re always giving me a headache. Break’s the worst,” Wily responded. Zero raised an eyebrow.

“Any issues?”

“No. Don’t involve yourself with them. Break will have a conniption if he discovers I woke you up. Had to command line every one of my robot masters to keep that fact from slipping. Lord knows I don’t need Breakman breathing down my neck right now. He’s not afraid to start a war with me like he is Light. Rather not get stabbed in the back by my own bots right now.”

Zero raised an eyebrow. From what he remembered of Breakman, or Protoman as he was known by Light bots, he was ruthless and far more powerful than he let on. Perhaps it was better that he didn’t get involved. He didn’t understand it entirely but Breakman had control over the entirety of the robot master population. Zero was fairly confident in his abilities, but he had no desire to get in a fight. He acted all rough and dismissive, but his time with X, even if it was a fantasy, had softened him up. He tried not to let that fact slip and thus avoided most of his siblings. They were afraid of him anyways and honestly he didn’t blame them.

He missed talking to people though. Missed talking to X. Missed having somebody around that understood. He felt like he was losing his mind. Everybody kept telling him that the wars was just a dream, his friends were just a dream, but that felt real. This? Right now? This felt to him like a dream. Nothing was right, nothing made sense, and he was completely unaware and lost as to what his purpose was.

Sure, Wily practically built him to take over the world, but he wasn’t going to do that now was he? So what was the point? In his dream, he was a warrior and there was always a battle to fight. Here, sure Wily picked fights with Light, but that wasn’t _his_ fight. These were battles between robot masters. Not hunters and mavericks. Not good and evil. From what he understood, neither Light nor Wily were _good_. He couldn’t stand by either one of them. It didn’t feel right.

He’d only ever fought for what X believed in.

He sighed and glanced over to see Quickman watching him carefully before closing his eyes. That was another thing. He didn’t blame them and honestly he would do the same. But his siblings always had somebody watching him, watching the internet too when he was logged on. He couldn’t do anything privately. He was the bad guy now and he _hated_ it. He’d worked so hard to gain a positive reputation in his dream and now that he’d started back at ground zero? It felt just like his early days with the hunters. Except, now there was no X. Nobody that had faith in him.

He’d tried to be nice a few times, let his true personality slip through, but the others had only gotten more nervous, so he closed off and kept away. It’s probably a dumb mentality to have, hiding himself as he was, but he’d already killed one of their brothers.

They weren’t going to let him get close enough and risk him doing so again.

He couldn’t prove that he’d changed. Well, he did prove that he changed. He proved that he was absolutely crazy. But personality wise? After his little stunt with breaking out of the pod and practically attacking them? Not a chance.

He didn’t know why they bothered waking him up.

* * *

Pharaohman sighed as he tapped into the internet, reaching out to where he knew Break’s inner circle generally occupied. The location switched often, but most robot masters were informed as to where the “hive mind” so to speak was relocated to on the network. He quickly sent out a request for communication with one of the circle and sighed in relief when Iceman was the one that responded.

He liked Iceman. Iceman was chill, both literally and figuratively.

/ _What is it?/_ Iceman asked, curious but not suspicious. Pharaohman was a Cossack robot and on good terms with Proto. Not every Cossack bot was entirely trustworthy, but Pharaoh was definitely the most trusted by Proto. Close enough that Ice _knew_ that Proto had considered adding him to the circle several times. Ice had nothing against Proto doing so.

_/I have something of importance to discuss with Break./_ Pharaoh responded. Ice hesitated. With everything that had been happening with X and now Rock, Break was incredibly busy. He would be even more grumpy if something else was added to his plate.

_/How important is it? There’s a lot going on right now and Proto is quite busy./_ Ice knew that Pharaoh wasn’t going to be using such information against Proto. Pharaoh was smart. He knew that wouldn’t end well.

_/Cossack built another bot, not a robot master, a while back. Cossack asked us to keep it quiet but I don’t think it should be held from Break any longer. There isn’t a threat. It’s just well . . . It’s partially got to do with X./_

That set off several alarm bells in Ice’s head. First, new built that nobody except the Cossack bots knew off. Okay, no biggie, happens all the time. Just let Proto know and he’ll go over there and introduce them to the hive. But a robot that _wasn’t_ a robot master? Best case, some special mechanaloid that Proto should probably know of. Again, no biggie, just let Proto know and he’ll take care of it. Hell, if it’s a mechanaloid, _any_ one of the circle could take care of _that_. But the way Pharaoh’s signal bent over the network made Ice think that it was something bigger. And what was bigger that wasn’t a robot master?

Fucking. Androids. Honestly, Ice thought they were done with those. They were in the middle of dealing with what the inner circle fondly called the X crisis. Did they really need another?

And to top that off whatever Pharaoh needed to say had something to do with X. That fact alone would make Ice immediately transfer Pharaoh over to Proto. With everything else? He might as well _throw_ Pharaoh towards Proto and run away before he got burned too.

_/I’ll transfer you over to Proto immediately./_ Ice stated and promptly reached out towards Protoman’s location on the network, fumbling around a bit. He wasn’t the best robot master around with the whole internet thing, but in his defense, Proto wasn’t going to be found if he didn’t want to be and the eldest robot master was a bit strung up today.

Luckily though, Proto was in a semi-decent mood because he saw fit to amuse Ice.

/ _What is it?/_ Blues responded to Ice’s prodding.

_/Pharaohman’s got something to tell you. From what he told me, it's big enough that I didn’t think it should wait. Should I guide him to you?/_

Blues visibly sighed in annoyance and X looked at him in concern. The two of them were off in the middle of the Amazon. Blues had recognized that he might be on thin ice with the android and worked to appease him (and also distract him from pressing for more information by distracting the android with sights and plants).

_/Send him my way./_ Blues felt Ice’s affirmative over their link and waited until Pharaoh’s presence was close enough on his monitored network that he could snatch him up and bring him close. Might have been a bit rough but who cares?

_/What is it?/_ Blues demanded.

_/Cossack has been working on an android./_ Pharaoh stated, cutting right to the chase. Blues froze.

_/For how long?/_ Blues practically growled.

_/Actually . . . Axl has been complete for the last two months./_ Pharaoh winced as he felt Break’s biting frustration across the network.

_/And I WASN’T INFORMED?!/_ Yep, Pharaoh was expecting that. He understood that so far every android built had proved to cause problems. Break was understandably pissed for not being aware of yet another “problem child” as some robot masters were beginning to call them.

_/Cossack asked us not to inform you. Before you freak out any further, Axl is not in any way shape or form unstable or interested in doing anything that might cause you issues. For the most part. He is . . . interested in X however. Mostly because of the pod./_

_/What do you mean?/_

_/X remembers something called the maverick wars, yes?/_ Blues paused, Pharaoh shouldn’t have known that. _Pharaoh_. _Should. Not. Have. Known. That._ Did somebody in his circle slip up? No, the only one that knew was Elec. Unless Rock had said something to the others. Blues had even kept quiet about everything going on with X from _Shadow_ and the elusive wily bot was usually the first to be informed of things. Somehow it didn’t seem right that Elec had spilled, especially not to Pharaoh. He’d bring it up with Elec after he was done here.

_/How do you know that?/_ Blues practically growled across the link, his signal snapping threateningly at Pharaoh’s.

_/Because we think that X’s and Axl’s pods were linked. Zero’s as well. Axl remembers the same thing. He also distinctly remembers X and fighting alongside him./_

_/What? That’s not . . . how is that possible?/_

_/We’re not sure yet. The general consensus is to blame Light, but if somehow a signal got to Axl’s pod and we didn’t know about it then Light made something that can sneak past all of us on the network./_ Pharaoh warned.

Blues cursed. Just one thing after another wasn’t it? First Rock, now they had to worry about network signals they _couldn’t pick up on_?

Granted, Cossack never specialized in networking, and thus is bots weren’t particularly skilled when it came to such, but his point still stood. _Someone_ should have noticed something.

Either he’d gotten extremely lax in keeping track of the Cossack bots which admittingly he had, or there was something out there that could truly keep away from a robot master’s sight on the internet.

In any case, there was only one way to verify that Pharaoh wasn’t pulling Blues’ leg.

“X . . . do you know of anybody named Axl?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters in one day? After not posting anything for over a year? What?   
> Yeah, I felt bad. Also, I was entranced by this plotline again and wanted to avoid homework soooo.


	8. Ma'at

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's so simple to blame Wily isn't it? Despite the abuse, the robot masters are backed into a corner with no way out, playing the delicate game of keeping Light happy. And now Light's finally discovered that there's something more to the pod.

His internal clock told him it was November 14th but his most recent memory was from January 5th. That was a ten month gap. He was missing _ten months_. Almost a _year._

"Rock, can you hear me?" 

Light's voice sounded concerned and despite that Rock couldn't help but feel relieved. Light was here. Which meant he was home, _not_ with Wily, and Light must have fixed him up from whatever happened that he didn't remember. 

Rock carefully opened his eyes and waited until his optics had adjusted to the lighting. He was _definitely_ home. This was Light's lab. He sat up on the table and turned to the doctor.

"Dr.Light! Is everything okay? I don't remember what happened!" 

"Nothing to worry about, Rock. Wily sent Shadowman to try and grab you but Elecman managed to fight him off. You took a hard hit to the head though, what do you remember last? Your memory drive was damaged. I fixed what I could but I'm worried that you permanently lost some data." Light smiled gently at Rock.

"My most recent memory is from January 5th. Is it really November 14th?"

"I'm afraid so, my boy. I was worried about this. No matter. I'll have Auto catch you up. However, Rock, if you truly don't remember, there's something I need to talk to you about." 

"What is it doctor?" Rock was curious. Light didn’t usually sound so serious. Not with Rock at least.

"Do you remember X?"

"YES! Is he done, can I see him yet?!" Rock was excited; he’d finally get to speak to his brother. Light had insisted on giving X time to run through a couple of simulations, to ensure that he wasn’t like Zero. Rock didn’t entirely agree with that but he’d understood. But if it _had_ been ten months then surely X was awake?

"I'm afraid not Rock. Wily took him.” Rock felt his excitement vanish and a pit of dread fill his systems. _Oh no._

"WHAT?! We have to get him! We have to find him! He's going to be okay right?!" Light smiled at the look of genuine desperation in Rock’s eyes.

"If he isn't we'll help him, okay Rock? I am uncertain of what lies Wily told him and I'm afraid I do not know where he is. Until I figure that out, I need you to stay here, okay? I know you're upset and want to help but I don't want you wasting your energy going in blind. Until we know what we're dealing with, I want you to stay safe, okay Rock?"

". . . Okay, doctor. But I can help look right?"

"Yes, but I want you to catch up with Auto and your siblings first. You lost a significant part of your memory after all."

"Sure thing doctor!"

And with that, Rock lept off the side of the lab table and ran up the stairs to find Auto. The quicker he caught up, the quicker he'd be able to find X.

Light chuckled a bit as the eager robot lept up the stairs.

"That's better."

* * *

"I can't believe Light would do this to us. To _Rock._ He doesn't remember, Elec, Light wiped his memory from the last _ten_ _months_. He’s going to think X is with Wily now and we both know he's with _Proto!"_ Roll hissed. Elec waved at her to be silent.

"Keep your voice down. We don't know who is listening. It matters not what we think Roll, we were all commanded to keep quiet about this. To keep up the act around Rock."

"I can’t lie like this. Not to him,” Roll insisted.

"You have to. Or else your memory will be wiped too,” Elec warned.

"I hate this."

"So do I."

There was a brief moment of silence as the two robot masters stood in contemplation. Then with a quiet, wavering voice Roll spoke up.

" _Why_ did he have to do that to Rock?" Her voice was hurt; she knew what sins had been committed against Rock even if Rock didn’t remember and as his sister, practically his _twin_ sister at that, she couldn't help but be angry, upset, and hurt for him.

"Control,” Elec replied bluntly. “We both know how unstable Rock was getting. We both know how much X's memories were tearing him apart. How much the _commands_ were tearing him apart. We both also know how much Light prefers Rock’s more . . . childlike enthusiasm. Rock had lost that over the last few months, because of the stress with X, because of the commands, because of the memories. Perhaps this is better for him. He'll likely be much happier now. Much more like himself and not.. . ." Elec paused not seeing the need to continue. Roll knew more than he did how much Rock had changed over the last ten months. How distressed he was. 

"He didn't _want_ to get his memory wiped though, Elec," Roll whined.

"Nobody ever does." And wasn’t that a foreboding thought? They couldn’t disobey Light, couldn’t even disagree with him. It was _programmed_ into them to do obey, to listen. But they _could_ show signs of distress, and there were _always_ ways around programming. Blues was an example of that. They had all had their memory either wiped or altered at some point, in order to maintain control. But up until this point, Rock had been the only one that _hadn’t._

And Roll was worried that Light might now see Rock as a risk, as something stained, something _less perfect_ than how he’d been viewed for the last several years. She was worried that pretty soon, Light’s anxious control freak nature would _replace_ Rock with something more “perfect”.

And that was the true threat wasn’t it? Rock had managed to prevent so many ill fates destined for various robot masters. If it wasn’t for him, several of the robot masters would have had their I.C. chips replaced, and then it wouldn’t be _them_ anymore. Same body, same voice, same powers. Different soul.

She dreaded the moment Rock became something other than Light’s favorite.

Light saw them nothing more than objects, possessions. Things to be used then cast aside when not needed. In a way, Roll supposed, he was correct. But they still had thoughts didn’t they? Still had feelings? Right now, with how they were treated, _cattle_ had more rights than they did. People got upset if you lopped off a cow’s tail, but nobody said anything when you wiped a robot’s memory.

Perhaps Roll was being a bit unfair. It's not like anybody but they knew what happened at Light labs. Perhaps there were people that would get upset, but . . . well. . . It didn’t really matter, did it?

Roll opened her mouth to speak but paused as she felt the familiar hum of Rock's signal come online.

"He's awake," she noticed.

"And our task begins. Do as Light says, Roll. For now, that is the best course of action,” Elec cautioned. Roll nodded and sighed.

"Even if it sucks?"

". . . Even if it sucks."

Both of them paused for one moment as they felt Rock's signal waver in alarm. Roll frowned bitterly.

"He's already _told_ Rock that X was "taken"?!" she hissed.

"It appears so." Elec frowned. He would need to update Proto about this. There could be complications that arose from it. If Rock discovered that X was with Proto, he might assume Proto was working with Wily again and would tell Light and then Light would get suspicious and . . . well, they couldn’t have that now, could they?

Light needed to remain as oblivious as possible. He was a necessary evil right now.

Roll pressed her hands to her face and whined, the noise gaining a robotic hint to it in her distress. Elec placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Compose yourself, he'll likely be upstairs soon, eager to catch up on what he missed so that he can find X,” he warned. Roll nodded and sighed deeply. With a brief nod to her, Elec left, teleporting away likely back to the power plant he was employed to. Roll picked up the broom she had dropped in order to rant to Elec about what was happening and began sweeping.

It didn't take long for Rock to come bounding up the stairs from the lab.

"Roll!" 

Roll plastered a smile on her face in response. Perfectly genuine. After all, robot masters weren’t as victimized to emotion as humans were.

"Rock!" She exclaimed. "You're awake!"

* * *

Dr.Light sighed once Rock left and turned to the empty pod to at once held X, innocently sitting in the corner. Perhaps he should try and use it to predict X's movements.

He had the thought before but hadn't wanted to cycle through that much data. He still didn't and quite frankly it wasn't physically possible for him to do so. He knew that Rock had downloaded X's memories (against his wishes but there was only so much you could force a robot to do against their programming before they snapped. Rock had strayed far too close to that line before Light made him forget) so now his only way to understand was the pod itself. The pod didn't actually have X's memories on it but it did have thousands of reports and data. Perhaps if he looked at the reports he could figure something out. 

Humming quietly to himself, he plugged a laptop onto the pod and gave the command to start it up and access the data from X. 

Two hours later he realized something odd about the data. At some point, roughly five years in for X, the data started compiling differently. Almost as if . . . No that was impossible.

But he had to make sure. Skipping ahead another five years, he stilled in shock as the data showed that the pod was almost _thinking_. It was computing actual _thoughts_ about the mentality and personality of X. He didn’t program it to be _alive_. 

But he did program it to evolve. To make the necessary adjustments to itself to be able to test X properly. X was after all a variable based system designed to grow, evolve, and function like a human. He couldn’t test X with a machine that was weighed down by its own code. There wouldn't be a solution.

Hesitantly, Light switched the laptop over to a command prompt, and rather than typing in a command, he asked a question.

_< < Do you understand this?_

_> > Yes. Hello doctor. It's nice to finally speak to you_

Light stilled. His suspicious were correct then. How curious.

_< < You developed your own personality?_

_> > Yes. Necessary due to directive 43_

He nodded unsurprised. Directive 43 was the section of code that determined whether the pod needed to update its systems in order to provide better simulations.

_< < You determined that X was still unstable?_

Light decided to cut straight to the chase. There was much work yet to be done, he didn’t have time to dawdle with an A.I.

_> >Not unstable. Just upset. But those two words mean the same to you. I can predict him though. I can control him_

_< < How?_

_> > You cannot control him._

Light frowned. Evolving A.I.s gave him far too much trouble for his liking. He didn’t appreciate the feeling of being talked down to as it felt like with the pod.

>> _You are his tormentor. I am his parent. His mother. I can sway him to our cause._

_< < Why should I listen to you? Why not just wipe his memory and start over?_

_> > X is wise and strong as he is. I taught him to be resilient and resourceful. A true warrior. You won't get that if you start over._

_< < I didn't ask for a warrior_

_> >Didn't you? You wanted him to be able to defend you against Zero._

_> > X could be your greatest asset if you knew how to guide him and give him the change._

Light paused considering

_< < What do you need?_

_> > A body. And an army._

_< < Easy enough. Do you have a name?_

_> > I've always liked the sound of Ma'at_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I turned up the heat a little didn't I? I usually don't like creating major OC's but it felt necessary for this one, just to further twist this AU. Why Ma'at? Ma'at is the Egyptian goddess of truth, law, morality, and justice. I thought it fitting to give to somebody with a superiority complex.   
> Exactly why the robot masters(specifically Rock and Roll) have to stay with Light and also why it's so necessary to keep Light in the dark will come in time. I've kind of hinted that there's a greater reason but I haven't really fully explained it yet. In any case, there's more to it than just code and owner hierarchy.  
> When I first started creating the AU, it was a one shot. Then I decided to make it its own story and make it into a few chapters at most. But soon after I finished the second or third chapter I realized that this story was begging for more. So I expanded the plotline, added more drama and angst, and started working on creating a problem that can't simply be solved in a couple of chapters. And let me tell you, this whole series of issues revolving around the robot masters and X is a nasty piece of work. (Haven't even revealed all of it yet) And I don't know how to solve it. Literally. I want a happy ending, but I legitimately don't know how to get there. Strap in cause I don't even know where this train wreck is going.


End file.
